Rez developer returning to games industry

As well as Rez, Mizuguchi's portfolio includes several cult classics including Space Channel 5 and Lumines.

The creator of the iconic Rez has returned to game development after a two year hiatus.

Music and rhythm game veteran Tetsuya Mizuguchi told Edge that whilst he is still working in academia, he is already thinking about his next video game project and that he wants to get back to creating new titles.

At present, he is helping out other developers in Japan that are working on some social titles, but he is hoping to kick his own project off at either the end of this year or next year. He is also interested in further exploring mobile gaming and is not ruling out the possibility of dabbling in free-to-play business models.

Instead of building a studio, Mizuguchi plans to assemble small groups of freelancers to develop his games comprised of hand-picked experts, starting over with each new project to make sure he has the right people for the task in hand.

Mizuguchi’s took a break from game development and left his studio Q Entertainment back in 2012 after the release of Lumines: Electronic Symphony for the Playstation Vita and took a post as a professor at the Graduate School of Media Design in Keio University.

Cult classic Rez was released in 2001 and in Japan had a ‘Trance Vibrator’ included with the game which would pulse in time with the music, building on the synesthesia of the player that Mizuguchi has often lectured on.